A Radical Solution, or "a piece of junk"?... [PIC]

@marty-johnson Sorry to hear that an earthquake destroyed the model, but I must ask about your decal comment. Just what exactly deemed them "horrible?"  The design? Where they not opaque? I've used decades-old decals without consequence; as long as they're stored properly, they'll last seemingly  indefinitely.

@chris - Tamiya makes unbelievably great assembly kits. The attention to detail and the quality of the pieces and instructions are the industry standard to which all other plastic model companies should be compared.  However, no company or product is perfect all the time in every area.  The decals were not as opaque as they should have been, and after application, the color did not pop as they should have.  Further, time made them brittle, and they started to peel.  However, in defense of Tamiya, perhaps I should have sprayed the entire model in clearcoat which would have solved the brittle peeling problem.